Our Outreach & Resources:

You want to have regular phone calls, every 3 - 5 days.  Twice a week is Premium.

Resources are linked and provided under each expandable step below.
Step 1: KNOW Your Role & Responsibilities IN THIS EFFORT
  • Make initial contact with your offices. Asking for their support, requesting that they contact ED and request a tangible status report and evidence demonstrating they are implementing and opening the JCLSA process by a specific target date.  See "Our Asks of the Office."
  • Continue to make contact with your office to get updates about their communication with ED.
  • Use the Temperature Check Rubric below to gauge the office's temperature based on conversation outcomes. 
  • Report updates about communication and progress on the Temperature Check Form, even if the temperature is not warm or hot.
  • Encourage your office to reach the Very Warm temperature check level, which escalates communication with DoE and requires them to answer more directly.
  • Do not take passive or boilerplate responses from offices. Push the office to give a specific response regarding their level of commitment. 
STEP 2: PREPARATION: Things to do before you call

1. ​Familiarize yourself with the Operation Last Dance website and ready-made resources.

  1. Familiarize yourself with this Operation Last Dance website.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the resources and know what they are trying to communicate and tie that into your own story.
  3. If content here raises questions or something is not clear, ask for clarification sin the FB Group or email [email protected].

2. ​Visit the  DoU.S.Part! Map. 

  1. Discover who your House Representative and (2) Senators are.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the support level of your House Representative and two Senators. 
  3. Obtain the names and contact information of the staffers who manage Education Issues in these offices.
  4. Use the Legistorm Request text in the map pop-up to request Legistorm contact information. (Directions Here)​
  5. ​Review the pop-up and discover what support, if any, the offices have already provided for the JCLSA. You can use this to break the ice by showing gratitude for the specific ways the office has already helped.

3. ​Prepare your message and communication for your Phone Call or Email.

4. ​Review and know what outcomes to track and  Report  on the​ Temperature Check Form.

STEP 3: PREPARATION: GATHERING THOUGHTS AND SPEAKING POINTS
PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE WE IMPROVE THIS CONTENT.  PLEASE CONTINUE TO CHECK BACK AS WE UPDATE.
2024 Last Dance Gathering Thoughts & Speaking Points v00.pdf
File Size: 153 kb
File Type: pdf
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Here is a brief guide on preparing your thoughts and speaking points for your Congressional Representatives and Senators during our Last Dance through August 31, 2024. It gives a quick synopsis of our ask, frames our mindset and expectations, and provides  speaking points that you can modify and integrate into your message.
  1. State the problem we seek to solve.
  2. Center your experience before and after the law to demonstrate the continued hardships even with a law in place.
  3. You can provide context by selecting  select 1 - 3 points that align with your story from the Executive Summaries or One Page Summaries below.
  4. Be sure to include Our Asks of the Offices.
  5. Distinguish us from the broad forgiveness by show our statuted basis.

We will be refining this information once we receive some critical clarifications.  We await those clarifications.
STEP 4: Make The Call
Call and request the staffer taken from the Legistorm information you requested in step 1.  The single most influential thing that you can do is talk to the  staffer that handles Education issues for the office.  If the staffer is unavailable, request a scheduled face-to-face meeting, a virtual meeting or a phone call.  Telling your story in person impacts your Congress person's outlook and response.  Our members' stories are what pushed the JCLSA into law.

1. ​The Flow.

  1. Using Legistorm information, call and request to speak with the staffer responsible for Education issues by name.
  2. Introduce yourself as a constituent and indicate that you are calling regarding the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act (JCLSA). If you did not use Legistorm data, request the staffer who manages Education issues.
  3. If the office has supported the JCLSA in some way, thank them for their support up front. This is a good ice breaker.
  4. Present your purpose for making contact. (The Problem and Our Ask of the Offices)
  5. Share your JCL story and experience.  Tie in 1 or 2 points from one of our Executive Summaries or Fact Sheets.
  6. Share the hardships that you have had while waiting two years for implementation.
  7. Reiterate how the requested action will help your situation as a constituent.
  8. Refer them to other offices that have been strong supporters.
  9. Before leaving the call, review and Keep Track of Conversation Outcomes with the staffer.
  10.  Report the Outcomes on the Temperature Check Form. ​

2. ​Keep Track of Conversation Outcomes.

  1. ​Thank the staff member and record their name, the date and time of the call, the legislator’s view on the issue, and any commitments made. You’ll want to continue the conversation with this staffer moving forward.
  2. Summarize and clarify
    1. Clarify the office’s position on JCLSA implementation. If that is unknown or dodged, request a position and justification in writing from the office.
    2. Confirm that the office will follow up with a Congressional Inquiry on your behalf.
    3. Confirm the office’s interest or commitment to any of the action items.
    4. Clarify the office’s interest or commitment to touch base with any other supportive offices.
    5. Clarify what you need to do, and by when to allow the office to take action.
    6. Clarify that the office does or does not want the additional information Pager.
    7. Summarize the staffer’s email address.
    8. Clarify the timeline in which you should expect status reports and results of the office’s action.
  3. Review your summary and clarifications and match them to the Temperature Check Rubric.  Report your outcomes and Temperature check on the Temperature Check Form for each conversation that you have, so that we can keep track of outreach results and modify if necessary.
STEP 5: DETERMINE & REPORT TEMPERATURE for the office

Report your Temperature Check from the Conversation Outcomes...

It is important to track the results of our outreach so that we can better plan our campaign and report what we know about our efforts to Appropriations Champions.  Please complete this form so that we can understand the impact of our outreach.  A given Congress person's temperature may change.  We encourage you to come back here when you have received responses and updates.  You can simply fill out a new form to report and indicate the new temperature.

Measures will be based on an office’s commitment to the requested actions in “Our Ask” of the offices summarized below, a tangible way to determine success and communicate actionable and specific commitment levels.

DoUsPart! members must push politicians to commit to one of the progressive actions listed or to take no action, so we can accurately determine involvement. “Watching” is not a commitment.

 We need to ensure members understand what constitutes “commitment.” The following table outlines commitment levels with examples.

Determine your Temperature Check

2024 Last Dance Temperature Check Rubric v00.pdf
File Size: 101 kb
File Type: pdf
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STEP 6: Followup/send email
If you have spoken with the Education staffer, then follow up with an email and attach a One Page Summary as a way to remind them of our ask and its urgency.  If you called and did not speak to the appropriate staffer, or had to leave a message for the staffer,  you can use the email as a way to follow-up and request a scheduled face-to-face meeting, a virtual meeting or a phone call to recap and have them report what action they have taken and the outcomes.  Remember that you can obtain the key staffer's information by using the DoU.S.Part! Map and using the Legistorm request instructions in the map information popup for your address.
This single pager fact sheet describes our situation since the passing of PL117-200 and distinguishes us from the broad borrower base and summarizes our request for funding to Department of Education's (ED) Federal Student Aid (FSA) office for PL117-200/JCLSA implementation.
​
It synthesizes some facts from our 'Who We Are Survey' with our recent 'Our Numbers' survey.
  • Include this with your letter or email correspondence with your Congress person's office.
  • If you've already sent something, follow up by sending this.
  • Use it in a meeting with your Representative or Senator.
  • ​Use it as a follow up for your phone call or meeting.

Republican Office

One Page Summary for Republican
File Size: 895 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Democrat Office

One Page Summary for Democrat
File Size: 899 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
STEP 7: FOLLOWUP WITH AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Followup with the executive summary.

You have to followup.  It keeps their attention and forces accountability.  By sending the executive summary, you restate the request and problem.
This two-page Executive Summary describes our situation since the passing of PL117-200, distinguishes us from other borrowers and summarizes our request for funding to ED/FSA for JCLSA implementation.  It synthesizes some facts from our 'Who We Are Survey' with our recent 'Our Numbers' survey and provides a little more granularity than the single pager above.
  • You can include this, or the One Pager, with your letter or email correspondence to your Congress people.
  • If you've already sent something, follow up by sending this.
  • Use it in a meeting with your Representative or Senator.

Democrat Office

Executive Summary for Democrat w Hardship Emphasis
File Size: 1240 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Executive Summary for Democrat w Redistribution Emphasis
File Size: 1194 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Republican Office

Executive Summary for Republican w Hardship Emphasis
File Size: 1487 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Executive Summary for Republican w Redistribution Emphasis
File Size: 1443 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Take me back to the home page, please! Let me start from the top again.
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Identify and connect to your Representative's and Senator's and discover their stance on JCLSA on our interactive map. 
Report the outcomes your advocacy.  Indicate the temperature of your Congressman to your request here.
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